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Football words and expressions beginning with B

Feedback and questions gratefully accepted

Back four- The DEFENDERs of one teamBack heel- Using the back of your foot to PASS the ball, or sometimes SHOOTBack pages- A nickname for the sports pages of a newspaper, due to their position in British and other newspapersBafana Bafana- The nickname for the South African team, meaning “The Boys”Ball control- See CONTROLBall watching- Looking only at the ball and so not seeing where the other players are, especially the player who you are trying to MARKBalloon shot- A SHOT that went far too highBanner- A long piece of cloth that has a message written on it and is usually supported at both ends by poles. It is displayed by the crowd to support particular players, protest decisions by the management, etc. Beat- Win against another team- Typical mistake- “SPURS won Aston Villa” should be “Spurs beat Aston Villa”Benefit match- A match where the profits go towards a charity or a player’s retirementBicycle kick- A shot in which the player flips their body over to SHOOT (or more unusually CROSS) by kicking the ball while it is over their own headBid for a player- A team saying how much they would pay the team that a player has a contract with if that player was to TRANSFER to their clubBig-money signing- A player that the club had to pay a lot of money in TRANSFER FEES forblindBobble (n/v) - Movement of the ball on the ground, e.g. due a PITCH that isn’t flat, that means that it doesn’t move in a straight line and so makes it difficult to kick, TRAP or SAVEBoo (n/v)- A noise made by the FANs to show disapprovalBookieBooking- Being shown a YELLOW CARD or RED CARD for doing something wrong, such as HANDBALL or a FOULBosman (transfer)- A FREE TRANSFER of a player who has come to the end of their contract, possible due to a ruling by the European Court of Justice on the case of Belgian footballer Jean-Marc BosmanBosman ruling- See BOSMAN (TRANSFER)Bottom half of the table- If there are 12 teams in a division, the lowest 6 teams at that time. This expression is usually used to indicate that those teams are in danger of RELEGATION at the end of the season. Bottom of the table – The 12th team in a twelve team DIVISION, likely to suffer a automatic DEMOTION to a lower division if they don’t win soonBovril- A hot drink made from meat extract that smells like gravy and is popular in English football grounds, as it keeps you warm and alcohol is not available Box (the)– see PENALTY BOXBrace- Two goals, usually by the same player, in one match. One less than a HAT TRICK

Re: Football words and expressions beginning with B

ball to hand - where a player kicks the ball and it comes off the hand of an opponent but the opponent is unable to move his hand away in time and so is not guilty of the offence of 'hand to ball', aka handball. (A commentator used the term last night when dismissing France's penalty claim for handball: 'it's more a case of ball to hand')

Re: Football words and expressions beginning with B

Which reminds me, have you got the now infamous phrase 'Hand of God' - first use by Maradona, but still very current. I've seen references to it three times in the last week:

Hand of Dog - in a Wallis and Grommet advertisement for pies (forgotten the brand - which shows how effective the ad was!)
Hand-brake of God - in a car advertisement, featuring a car-coor swinging open and hitting a football
Hand of Clod* - widely used headline about Green's non-save last night.

b

*This is up there with other sporting headline puns, such as 'Swedes 2, Turnips 0'